Mysterious Space development blog & updates.

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0.7.x

0.7.8 II
========
Fixes
-----
* Re-enabled the crash reporter! (Oops!)
0.7.8
=====
Fixes
-----
* FMOD's version is now correctly displayed in ABOUT screen.
* Fixed a bug in Petite Poissons' movement which was causing them to sometimes
take the long way around a planet, to hilarious effect.
* Fixed bug in Spiral Gun's blessing description which caused it to mis-report
its movement speed bonus as being "+0%" when in fact it was a non-0 value
(probably +10)!
Sounds
------
* Added button sound effects, for when buttons are pressed and released.
* Blær (the ship's computer) now has a voice, provided by shutterbabe11. She
says "Hello, Captain."
* In the same vein, the broken AI now has a voice. It's my voice this time :P
Planets
-------
* 16 more rock graphics, bringing us to 32. And now, I think, I am quite done
drawing tiny rocks :P
* Pipes are now destroyed when jiggled by tractor beams for an extended period
of time.
* Benign creatures now roam the surfaces of many planets.
* Planets will sometimes contain alien obselisks, which lead to pockets of
folded space. These are dangerous. And fun :P
Mini-bosses
-----------
* Regenerating Rigel's damaging weapons deal damage based on the difficulty of
the planet (instead of a fixed amount). If you meet it early, it will deal
less damage than its previous amount, and if you meet it later, it will deal
more.
* Similarly, Grosse Baleine's health scales based on planet difficulty rating,
while also being reduced over all.
Misc
----
* A fullscreen option is now available! Press ALT+ENTER, or change the setting
from the settings menu.
* A bunch of behind-the-scenes changes (refactoring!) to the ABOUT screen code,
making it generally easy to work with, and getting things ready for
translation (which will happen in a future update).
* The camera now stops at the "top" of the level, so you can clearly see where
the edge/exit point is.
0.7.7
=====
Fixes
-----
* Fixed a display bug when moving over a crate containing Advanced Technology
when your inventroy was full.
* When you quit Mysterious Space, it would sometimes remain running in the
background for a few seconds. You probably wouldn't notice unless you tried
to immediately run the game within Steam again, at which point Steam would
say "no! hold on! it's already running!" This bug has been going on for a
long long time, and it always kind of bothered me, even if it is very minor,
but I finally fixed it - hurrah! :P
Players
-------
* Player ships are now equipped with a tractor beam! (Yep: that's all I have
to say! Have fun! :P)
Planets
-------
* Fuel is now sometimes trapped in a room behind a forcefield. This forcefield
is usually tied to a button that controls whether the forcefield is on or
off.
* Made all-new rock graphics, showing much smaller rocks. 16 rock graphics in
total, with 6 being based on the original 6. Why? Because rocks can't be
carried with your tractor beam, and for puzzle reasons I don't want them to
be carryable... but the old, ENORMOUS graphics looked like you SHOULD be able
to carry them around and make use of them!
Music
-----
* Another new song by DDRKirby(ISQ): "Sentinels of the Void", now heard on
barren/rocky worlds. This was the last major song needed, making this is an
awesome milestone for Mysterious Space! Major thanks to DDRKirby(ISQ) for all
the great music so far!
Accessories
-----------
* New accessory: "Stream Interrupt". Freezes everything, except players. Has
weird effects on gameplay physics, but let's just call those features rather
than bugs for the time being :P
* Reduced the severity of the curse that EMP Channelers can receive.
Shields
-------
* Added a new type of blessing that Nova Shields can receive.
Armors
------
* Added a new type of blessing that Reactive Armors can receive.
0.7.6
=====
Fixes?
------
* Mysterious Space now uses FMOD by Firelight Technologies to play music!
MonoGame's been having various issues with music, including crashing the game
for some players. This should be fixed now! (Hopefully FMOD doesn't come with
its own set of nasty bugs! But so far, it's looking better than MonoGame!)
Music
-----
* DDRKirby(ISQ) created a new song - "Afterglow" - which is the new Lava World
theme.
* Also, a couple fixes were made to "Uncharted Expanse" (heard on Desert
Worlds), and "Set a Course" (heard on the sector map).
* The music is now stored as FLAC instead of WMA. Technically, this is higer
quality; practically, you probably can't tell.
Internationalization
--------------------
* A bunch of new French translation work is in, thanks to Ambre Hasson! The
focus was on dialog with Blaer (the helpful computer AI), including the
tutorial section.
ABOUT Screen
------------
* Added an entry for FMOD, and an entry for Ambre.
* If you press ENTER or (A) on an entry, it will now open the URL for that
entry (if any) using your preferred browser.
Sector Map
----------
* The lines connecting the sectors together no longer touch the sector circles.
* Space now has a color, which cycles through the spectrum.
Planets
-------
* The color of space (see Sector Map above) is also seen when on a planet.
Mini-bosses
-----------
* New mini-boss (kind of) - mushrooms!
0.7.5
=====
Fixes
-----
* Fixed a crash that occurred when taking armor damage while having a SECOND
piece of armor equipped, but not a FIRST! Thank you, mysterious player, for
sending your game's error report when it crashed! (P.S. I'd love to credit
people for reporting bugs, so if you encounter a crash, feel free to include
your name in the crash report's description!)
Enemies
-------
* Enemies now appear at an INCREASING rate as times goes on, rather than
DECREASING. If you stick around for a long time, it will get QUITE FAST.
* The point value of all enemies has been halved.
* The maximum number of enemies allowed on-screen now increases as you collect
Fuel.
* The maximum number of enemies allowed on-screen now increases the longer you
stay on a planet.
Co-op
-----
* The maximum number of enemies allowed on-screen is now increased based on the
number of players playing.
Misc
----
* Changed how version and build date information is stored. A lot more is
automated now. This is helpful for the Crash Reporter, as it looks for the
program's version in a very specific place.
* Went through http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ClassicCheatCode and
implemented a ton of cheat codes. I won't tell you all of them, but I WILL
tell you that entering BA→AX↑↓A on the title screen brings you to a sound
test menu. (Hello, Sega Mega Drive. Sorry: modern controllers don't have a
"C" button.) Due to how "A" pulls you into submenus (or even quits the
game!), this code can only be succesfully entered by starting with the
language settings selected.
0.7.4
=====
Fixes
-----
* More fixes related to equipment getting destroyed as a result of your ship
being disabled. If this kind of rapid bug-fixing becomes a normal thing, I'm
going to have to re-think how I version/deploy Mysterious Space...
0.7.3
=====
Fixes
-----
* Fixed a crash when your shield was destroyed as a result of your ship being
disabled. (Thanks to the ship "TINY STEP" for this report.)
0.7.2
=====
Fixes
-----
* Fixed Carpet Bomber "blessing"; the EMP bullets now fire upwards, just like
the description says they will (rather than downwards)!
* When Alien Teleporters were blessed, it became possible to teleport A LOT.
Like, you'd probably accidentally teleport 10 times when you activated the
accessory >_> This has been fixed.
* Beehives no longer spawn BEHIND trees and cacti (where they were impossible
to see, causing you to sometimes run into them through no fault of your own).
Planets
-------
* Forcefields have been re-added to the game! They went missing sometime after
0.4.2, and I left them out because they felt kind of out-of-place. ("What's
a forcefield doing in the middle of this ocean?") But whatever: they add
another challenge to levels, and restore some usefulness to EMP weapons, so
they're back! Fun > Realism!
Enemies
-------
* So: as the level goes on, spawn rates of enemies decrease. But now, when you
collect fuel, the spawn rate is reset to beginning-of-the-level speeds. I'm
sure I'll be tweaking enemy spawning again, though... I just can't seem to
find a good balance here.
Misc
----
* Added a "crash reporter" library: CrashReporter.NET. I highly recommend it to
any other C# developers out there. It is SUPER-EASY to add to your code, and
it just works.
0.7.1
=====
Fixes
-----
* Fixed bug with control-inverting effects, which caused the camera to zoom
away from the player until the effect wore off!
* Fixed a typo in Blær's explanation of Stasis effects.
* Fixed a few typos & misspellings in the 0.7.0 changelog.
ABOUT
-----
* Added an entry for "Markieer" to the game's ABOUT page. Markieer put together
the first trailer for Mysterious Space; thanks, dude! :)
0.7.0
=====
Fixes
-----
* Oops: I'd left in some debugging code that was spawning mini-bosses on every
planet possible. Removed!
* Fixed a weird motion bug that occurred only when running into a wall directly
on the seam of the level, and only when moving toward the left. (Essentially
a rounding error, because negative numbers are lame.)
* The camera no longer falls way behind your movement (for example, when
Hasted).
Player Revival
--------------
* When your ship is disabled, one of its parts (chosen randomly) now becomes
"weakened". Weakened ship parts have reduced effects, and remain weakened
forever. If a ship part that is already weakened would become weakened again,
it is destroyed.
New Item: Advanced Technology
-----------------------------
* Added a new type of item: "Advanced Technology". While "Alien Artifacts" are
Mysterious Space's take on the classic rogue-like "potions", "Advanced
Technology" are its take on "scrolls". I'm not going to spoil ALL the
effects, but there are three very important ones I feel I should cover:
* "Strengthen", which repairs a "Weakened" equipment.
* "Entropy", which gives a permanent, negative effect to a piece of equipment
(analogous to "cursing" in rogue-likes).
* "Stasis", which gives a permanent, positive effect (analogous to "blessing").
A piece of equipment which has Entropy can be restored to its neutral state
by using one of these (and vice-versa). It's also worth noting that a piece
of equipment can have "stacks" of Entropy or Stasis, OFTEN times enhancing
the entropic or static effect (but not always). Regardless, if an item has
two stacks of Entropy, giving it Stasis would remove only a single stack,
leaving it one.
Blær
----
* The computer AI is now called Blær, primarily for purposes of changelog
entries, though I may at some point put it in the game.
* While looking for a unisex name for the computer AI, I discovered that
Iceland requires, by law that people have names that match their sex!
(Whaaaat? And Germany did, too, until 2008!?) There is one exception in
Icelandic law, however: Blær, previously a male-only name, is now available
to females. Learning this, I had to choose the name Blær for Mysterious
Space's gender-less computer AI. Many gender roles are artificial and
limiting, and if Ray Kurtzweil is right, and we all upload ourselves onto the
internet, "male", "female", etc, will surely join the likes of "punk",
"indie", "vegetarian", "christian", etc: just one of many ways of life you
might bother to care about, and identify with.
* Blær now tells you about stasis, entropy, and weakened equipment, as you
encounter them.
* Changed how Blær's settings are saved; all previous tutorializing will
have been forgotten; you will be given the introductory tutorial, lava
information, etc, all over again. Sorry.
Blueprints and Logs
-------------------
* Blueprints, logs, and other "COLLECTIBLES" must now be used before their
content is unlocked (not merely picked up). These items may not be used while
on a planet; they must be taken to the safety of space.
* Once a blueprint or log is in your COLLECTION, it will no longer be found
on planets.
Alien Artifacts
---------------
* Removed "destroys all on-screen enemies and enemy bullets" effect (that's now
an Advanced Technology effect).
* Added a "removes all bad status effects" effect. It removes slows, inverted
controls, sensor malfunctions, and shield disables from your ship.
Equipment
---------
* Ship parts found on levels and dropped by enemies now have a chance of
starting weakened.
Enemies
-------
* The longer you stay on a planet, the fewer enemies spawn.
* Enemies used to begin spawning only once you approached the surface of a
planet. Now they will also begin spawning when you approach a mini-boss.
Planets
-------
* Added some decorations to mining worlds: pipes, and bits of machinery.
* Mining worlds have a new song: "Eternal Excavation" by DDRKirby(ISQ).
UI
--
* Updated the title graphic ("Mysterious Space").
* Equipment "seals" (the little E, 1, 2, 3 boxes in the lower-right of equipped
ship parts) are now colored, using the detail color of your ship.